I use them in 3 of my canisters and they work really good. You can get roughly a hundred of them from the dollar store for about $2.
DYI media, putting some tank gravel into media baskets....
- Thread starter Prometheus
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I use them in 3 of my canisters and they work really good. You can get roughly a hundred of them from the dollar store for about $2.
Surface area
i think the difference between most of these DIY media will be actual surface area. The gravel from the tank will have moderate surface area, compared to a sponge or scrubbie.
i think the difference between most of these DIY media will be actual surface area. The gravel from the tank will have moderate surface area, compared to a sponge or scrubbie.
Why army men? The surface area? Or they protect the filter, and fight off unwanted debris. I put lego men in my tank as decoration until the fish started fighting them.
Cheap and plastic
Kitchen scrubbies and army men have been used in large pond filters because they are cheap, plastic, and lightweight.
In the big pond filters, done in tubs bigger than 55 gallons drums, it becomes important that you are able to pick up the whole bag of media to clean off occasionally. Hair rollers, army men, and kitchen scrubbies are all lighter weight than lava rock or pea gravel. Packing strapping or "springflo" media (plastic strapping) is another light, cheap alternaitve to expensive bio balls.
It makes sense if you need 75, or 100 gallons of media. Not if you need a quart or two. And because of the smaller volume the surface area is more critical. And compaction and bypass will be more critical.
Kitchen scrubbies and army men have been used in large pond filters because they are cheap, plastic, and lightweight.
In the big pond filters, done in tubs bigger than 55 gallons drums, it becomes important that you are able to pick up the whole bag of media to clean off occasionally. Hair rollers, army men, and kitchen scrubbies are all lighter weight than lava rock or pea gravel. Packing strapping or "springflo" media (plastic strapping) is another light, cheap alternaitve to expensive bio balls.
It makes sense if you need 75, or 100 gallons of media. Not if you need a quart or two. And because of the smaller volume the surface area is more critical. And compaction and bypass will be more critical.
When I stopped using charcoal in my filters, I had extra baskets in my canisters then. I didn't want to spend the money on bio-balls. So I remembered reading about using them as a substitute. I raided the kids room and took them since they only play with sometimes.
